The human body has a refined homeostatic mechanism for maintaining constant body temperature, but it nevertheless may be sensitive to external temperature. Some temperature changes may affect the whole body and cause conditions that may be potentially life-threatening, for example, hypothermia, hyperthermia, heat stroke, and/or heat exhaustion. These conditions may be treated through a variety of methods, for example, rewarming, fluid ingestion, immersion in warm/cool water, or by more advanced mechanisms. Other temperature changes may be applied focally as therapeutics, for example, applying radiofrequency (RF) ablation or cryoablation to treat cancer or to treat atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. In these cases, extreme temperatures may be used to deliberately damage pathological tissue while trying to preserve surrounding healthy tissue. However, heat transfer in the human body may be complex and difficult to predict since heat transfer may be contingent on a variety of factors including, for example, heat diffusion through multiple different materials (e.g., tissue, fluid, bone), the convection of the vascular system, and/or temperatures external to the body. In addition, individuals' bodies may vary in their abilities to adjust or regulate temperatures, which may cause people to vary in how prone they are to heat-related illness or how sensitive they are to treatment.
Thus, a desire exists for understanding bioheat transfer specific to an individual. For example, a desire exists to model bioheat (e.g., heat transfer or heat distribution) in an individual's entire body and/or in isolated organs and body parts. Furthermore, a desire exists to evaluate effectiveness of temperature-related treatments.
The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.